MQA accredited opencast mining and blasting certificate training
Increase your employees’ productivity, safety, and efficiency with dynamic, hands-on opencast mining courses.
Prisma is a leader in professional training and a fully MQA-accredited specialist service provider to the mining sector. We offer a comprehensive range of opencast mining training, from full qualifications such as the National Certificate in Rockbreaking (which enables your personnel to obtain their legal blasting certificates) to specialised skills programmes for competent persons and Occupational Health & Safety.
Ideally positioned to respond to your training needs, Prisma operates anywhere within Africa, including South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Tanzania.
Training across the entire spectrum of surface mining operations
At Prisma, we provide training across the entire spectrum of surface mining operations. However, because blasting is the most highly regulated and high-stakes phase of any open-pit operation, we place a premium focus on our Blasting Certificate pathways. Safely managing explosives requires a level of precision that sets the standard for all our other opencast training programmes – from heavy machinery operation to supervisor safety.
How to obtain an opencast blasting certificate for your workforce
Ensuring your team holds valid blasting certificates is a critical compliance and safety requirement for surface operations. At Prisma, our National Certificate: Rockbreaking Surface Excavations (Level 3) and associated short courses provide the theoretical foundation and practical, MQA-accredited training your operators need to handle, coordinate, and initiate blasts safely in an opencast mining environment.
| QUALIFICATION Courses | SAQA | NQF Level |
| Further Education and Training Certificate: Mining Operations | 74490 | 4 |
| National Certficate: Rockbreaking Surface Excavations | 62869 | 3 |
| SKILLS PROGRAMMES Courses | MQA ID | NQF Level |
| Blasting Assistant in Surface Mines and Quarries | SP/CLA-G017 | |
| Competent Person A – The Examination; Making Safe and Declaring Safe of Surface Mines; Quarries; Dumps and Stockpiles |
SP/CLA-G015 | |
| The Control of Explosives Magazines on Surface Mines and Quarries | SP/CLA-G018 | |
| Competent Person B: The Installation; Maintenance and Removal of Support Units in Surface Mines and Quarries |
SP/CLA-G016 | |
| Operating Mobile Equipment for Surface Excavation Operations | MQA/SP/0119/09 | |
| Occupational Health and Safety Activities for: Part Time/Workplace Representatives and Shop Stewards in the Mining and Minerals – (SHE Rep) | MQA/SP/0120/10 | |
| The Handling of Explosives in Mines | MQA/SP/0124/10 |
| SHORT COURSES Courses | SAQA | NQF Level |
| Design blasts for surface excavations | 257075 | 4 |
| Receive orders and despatch products | 110143 | 3 |
| Collect; store and issue explosives from a surface magazine | 110218 | 3 |
| Co-ordinate Drilling and Blasting operations | 115615 | 3 |
| Time; connect and initiate blast of a face | 244457 | 3 |
| Carry out a secondary breaking using explosives and accessories at a workplace | 257037 | 3 |
| Co-ordinate drilling and blasting operations | 257023 | 3 |
| Prepare and mark off work area for drilling | 257059 | 3 |
| Blast materials in surface excavations | 257039 | 3 |
| Remove hazardous ground by means of blasting | 257056 | 3 |
| Handle explosives in a surface mining environment | 115514 | 2 |
| Support the blasting operations | 252754 | 2 |
| Break big rocks by means of blasting | 244487 | 2 |
| Mark shot holes for secondary blasting | 244479 | 2 |
| Break big rocks using a secondary breaker | 244387 | 2 |
| Receive; handle; store and issue explosives and accessories at a workplace | 244378 | 2 |
| Bar and break big rocks using a mobile scaler | 244414 | 2 |
| Break big rock by means of drilling and blasting using a secondary breaker | 244369 | 2 |
| Charge shot holes with propellant based cartridges and accessories | 244401 | 2 |
| Demonstrate a basic understanding of explosives and accessories | 257036 | 2 |
| Identify and demarcate misfires in a surface excavation | 257055 | 2 |
| Make up primer and charge holes | 257022 | 2 |
| Time and connect initiating blast systems | 257058 | 2 |
| Assist blasting operations | 257030 | 2 |
| De-water blast holes using vehicle mounted de-watering pump | 257040 | 2 |
| MACHINERY Courses | SAQA | NQF Level |
| Load material using a face shovel | 257032 | 3 |
| Relocate material using a dragline | 256996 | 3 |
| Drill blast holes in a surface mining operation | 257026 | 3 |
| Excavate and load material using hydraulic excavator | 257076 | 3 |
| Grade material using a motor grader | 257115 | 3 |
| Operate tractor loader backhoe | 257028 | 3 |
| Operate an articulated dump truck | 262745 | 2 |
| Relocate machines and equipment using a lowbed | 257018 | 2 |
| Suppress dust using a water bowser | 257060 | 2 |
| Transport and distribute explosives by means of a light duty explosives vehicle | 257015 | 2 |
| Transport and distribute explosives using a heavy duty explosives vehicle | 257017 | 2 |
| Transport and distribute fuel using a fuel bowser | 257135 | 2 |
| Transport material and equipment using a flat back truck | 257020 | 2 |
| Transport personnel; material and equipment using Light Delivery Vehicle | 257025 | 2 |
| Use a track dozer to move material | 257038 | 2 |
| Load; transport and place explosives components into blast holes using a mixer-placer truck | 257019 | 2 |
| Move trailing cable using cable reeler | 256995 | 2 |
| Load, haul and dump material using a scraper | 257035 | 2 |
| Load and offl oad material using a skid steer loader | 257034 | 2 |
| Load; Haul and Dump material using a front end loader | 257031 | 2 |
| Illuminate an area using a lighting plant | 257077 | 2 |
| Deliver compressed air using a mobile electrical compressor | 256998 | 2 |
| Doze material using a rubber wheel dozer | 257021 | 2 |
| Haul and dump material using a haul truck | 257024 | 2 |
| Break rock using a hydraulic rock breaker | 256997 | 2 |
| Operate a skid steer loader | 116210 | 2 |
| Lift and move material and equipment by means of a forklift | 244365 | 2 |
| Remove broken rock by means of a scraper winch in an underground workplace | 244360 | 2 |
| Operate a mixer-placer explosives truck | 230018 | 2 |


